Ferrom
by Typewriters Inc
Summary: Justin Lewis Brady Awesome is seen as the hero of the Sanctuary. He steals all the glory from every other agent. An elite agent team catches him in the middle of the act of treason, he joins up with the most evil villain since Melvolant. Now the forces of the Sanctuary must stop the evil villain, Zly, from bringing back the Faceless Ones.
1. Chapter 1

Azaire Welding POV

I ducked as yet another creepy, inhuman leech swung out amd slashed its claws at me. We were currently battling a group of rougue, blood-sucking, undead creeps. Normal people call them vampires. I threw a salt-water soaked knife at one, lodging it firmly in its throat. [Vampires don't sparkle, now do they?] Now, only one was left. Just as I pulled a knife from a cadaver, splashing it with salt water, 'Mr. Hero' decided to crawl out from his disgusting, dark, and pathetic abyss of cowardace, and 'grace' us with his presence, just in time for every important member of the Council to show up. As soon as he opened his mouth, pure stupidity began to pour from it. "Now, evil-doer, time to die!" 'Mr. Hero' said, while dramatically decapitating the already half-dead and exhausted creature. (The reason I'm calling him Mr. Hero is because his name is too stupidly long and retarded.) "Great. Just great. Mr. Awesome decided to show up and take ALL the frickin' glory." Jaimes, my best friend since age five, said irratably, then cursed under his breath.

Oh, I forgot to intoduce myself. My name is Azaire Welding. I'm an Adept Sorceress, using Alchemic Magic, and I'm blind [More on that later]. Oh, one more thing. Everywhere from the bottom of my throat to my hips is made of steel, iron, and basically every other metal, and its infused with diamond. I'm sort-of like half robot. My team, Ferrom, has three other people: Jaimes, Jake, and Katty. They'll intoduce themselves later.

Anyway, as soon as 'Mr. Hero' finished up, the Council members warmly congradulated him and went on their way. "Well, Mr. Hero, you seem to have gotten the credit for our work, AGAIN." Katty said, not even trying to hide the hatred evident in her voice. Mr. Hero's 'winning ' smile faded and he scowled "My name is Justin Lewis Brady Awesome! Not Mr. Hero! Get that through your thick skull!" I smirked. "Someone has a bit of a temper, now don't they, Mr. Hero?" He just glared and walked away, stumbling a bit as he tripped over a tree root. Jake snorted and shouted, "Fail!", but Justin just continued on, following our pompous, arrogant, ignorant Council.

"Well, let's leave. I'm sure there are more, er, kid-friendly places in Ireland than a forest filled with vampire corpses." Jaimes said as he stepped over and around the bodies scattered around the woodsy, leaf-covered ground. Jake was about to skip after him, when something caught his eye.

"Sparkly!" He shouted gleefully as he ran over to a body, his oversized hoodie almost dragging the ground. _Wow. For a nineteen year old boy, he sure acts like he's five. In fact-_ My thoughts were cut off as I heard Katty's disgusted gasp. "Jake! You don't know where that's been! That's disgusting, why on Earth would you willingly touch a dead body?!" I walked over to Jake, being careful not to step on any of the bodies. He didn't seem to notice. In fact, he seemed like he was in a trance, staring at whatever he was holding. Suddenly, he jumped back and dropped the object. I picked it up, trying to figure out what it was. A cold, smooth stone hung on a long, tarnished chain. A necklace. However, there was something odd about it. Almost otherworldly. I held it out to Jake, but he didn't take it from me, in fact he took a step back. "Um, you can have it." He said and ran over to where Katty and Jaimes were waiting. I hung it around my neck, wondering why he didn't want it. He typically loves anything sparkly or adorable. Oh well.

I smiled as we reached the edge of the woods, the soft dirt turning into pavement. Waiting there, was a large bulk of metal that was far too tall and way too guy-ish to suit me. This was Jaimes' automobile. I hopped in shotgun, as Jake and Katty got in back, complaining the entire time.

I didn't tell you where we were going, did I? Oh, well we're on our way to Roar Haven. To the Sanctuary. Where that jerk and a large amount of other people I don't neccessarily like reside. I sighed as we finally reached our destination. We walked into the building, and were met with a large group of dissastisfied people. An angry mob, to put it nicely. The Grand Mage, Kurt Cae, slowly walked up to us, a disapointed look on his face.

"Look, I know you dudes are like, a good team and all, but that Justin kid is frickin' amazing. I'm really sorry about this, but for the time being, you're being taken off your jobs. Now, go get your stuff or whatever from your office." A chorus of 'Yeah!'s echoed around the room as he turned away from us. Katty ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to face us. "This isn't fair! It isn't fair at all! We've been completing the jobs, but he get's all the credit!" She shouted. The room grew quiet. Kurt sighed, and looked at all of us. "Alright, I'll give you guys a deal. I'll let you stay, but you'll have to have someone keep you from slackin' off, or whatever. I'll admit, she's a major psycho when it comes to guns, but she's pretty cool." "No. No way! I am not going to be babysitted! We're all adults here! Of course we won't-" I was cut off by Jaimes. "We'll take it. The deal, I mean. We'll agree to that." Kurt chuckled, before walking back towards his office. Just before he entered, he turned back to look at us. "Oh, and by the way, She won't be here until next week. She's American. Also, I need you to go find Justin, he has some award ceremonies and junk. Bye!" He shut the door behind him. I glared angrily at Jaimes before stalking away, trying to find Mr. Hero. Jake and Katty trailed behind me. Jaimes sighed and walked in the other direction, looking for Mr. Hero as well.

At this point in time, I'll admit, I considered lighting Jaimes on fire. Why on Earth would he do that? I mean, he knows I hate being contolled, or babysitted. I just, I couldn't stand it! I would rather DIE than have someone constantly look over my shoulder. I was just stomping around, making no attempt to find Mr. Hero, just blowing off steam. The hallway was enveloped in an extremly uncomfortable silence; the tension could be cut with a knife. I think Katty and Jake were afraid to speak, and I'm fairly sure steam was coming out my ears.

We searched for about an hour, but we couldn't find him anywhere. As soon as we were about to give up, ditch Jaimes, and go home, Jaimes ran up to us, breathless. "Oh. My. God. You will not believe what I just saw." I was about to answer with a snappy retort when something horrible happened. Something utterly terrible. Something that would forever change our lives, for the worse.


	2. Chapter 2

So, here I am, an irritated necromancer, looking for stupid Mr. Gary-Stu-Gone-Wrong. The perfect combo. (I say this ever so sarcastically) As I passed a door, not an important door, mind you, just a door. With voices and a light faintly glimmering through a crack. Made me wonder…

I slowly inched the door open. Just a bit. What I saw was even more horrifying than my younger sister, Katty. (Katty, pronounce "cay-T" rhymes with Haiti.) Justin was standing, _talking_, with the hologram form of Zly Magnus, public enemy number 1. Both stood next to a bowl of "extra virgin" olive oil. (Don't ask me how I know) I closed the door quietly and slid down the wall, silent. Barely containing my evil laugh of triumph.

I am Jaimes Meza. Your average teenish looking 20-something-year-old. My left hand, arm, and parts of my face and next are robotic; just your everyday shy and _dependable, non-cultish_, necromancer.

Hehe.

I tried to stand up, but I couldn't; something-my arm-was malfunctioning. It started to twitch and jerk spastically. _Great, just great,_ I thought miserably. Luckily there's a "doctor" in the grey, dreary Sanctuary building. And it's Monday. As I walked down the décor-free corridor, I heard a faint _whirr_ and a hysterical laugh that not only told me I was at my destination, but that there was someone there that was not mentally sane.

On the other side of frosted glass double-doors was… another hallway. I walked to the back of that hall and went through those frosted glass double-doors. There were 4 single doors on each side of this corridor, and 1 set of double-doors on both, plus the other set at the end next to the corner. All were made of wood with a slit of a window.

Out of the second door on the right, a single, walked a girl with vibrant yellow hair tied in a side pony tail with a green flower and streamers. She bounced up and down, with the bucket in her hand sloshing dangerously. She wore a buttoned up white lab coat, the matching loose fitting pants and bright green shoes. After her came a far less excited, almost morbid looking, girl. She looked almost exactly like the first girl; yellow hair, side pony tail, same lab-coat-matching-pants, about the same height. Her lab coat, though, was hanging off her and her blue shirt; her shoes were blue, like the flower and streamers in her hair.

Both had their right eye stitch closed, the other I could not see. But I knew, Hawthorne Rose, the happy-skippy-rainbows-and-unicorns-jumpy-twin, had a blue eye. Violet Sprig, the opposite, had a green eye. She was carrying a Styrofoam box labeled "BIOHAZARD", laid on top was a surgical saw, ruby droplets glistening on its serrated teeth.

Following behind them was their equally one-eyed, wait, I can't say _equally _one eyed. Arabia Whyte had a black, cresent shaped scar running from her fore head to her jaw, through her left eye. Anyway she came out of the room, locked it and turned her brown eye on me.

Pulling the mask down she spoke curiously, "Hi, Jaimes… why are you here?" she squished the last four words together.

I am a proper Brit, and so, I shall formally introduce the humans (relatively) standing in front of me.

Violet Sprig and Hawthorne Rose, polar opposites as I'm sure you just figured. Melodramatic twins, tsk. Then there's Arabia Whyte. She's, to put it bluntly, a psychopathic, one-eyed, really creepy, D.I.D. genius.

Arabia immediately saw the problem once I started slapping myself. She snickered very creepily and insane-like. How annoying and utterly irritating!

"Hey, guys, why don't you put that stuff down somewhere and stuff this dude in some room. I think three's open." Arabia told her two Canadian assissitants. Yeah, Canadian, so they don't have accents. Neither does Arabia, due to her Americaness. "Sure, Boss!" Hawthorne said in the peppy manner of hers.

Violet and her set their baggage on the ground and gestured for me to follow them. Arabia waved and smiled oddly before picking up the bucket and saw and walking around through the second set of double doors. I'm sure she came back for the biohazard, because I never saw that again. I'm not even sure I want to guess what it was.

Violet and Hawthorn took me around the corner to an unlocked door. It was… a hospital room! Gasp! Violet made me sit on this sort of low backed chair, and started messing with my ginger hair. "What are you doing?!" I asked Violet. "Looking for the chip…" I yelped as she yanked something. "Found it!" She said, triumphant. I rubbed my scalp, which hurt…

Violet gave whatever she found to Hawthorne who left the room.

As Violet did what Violet did, whatever that was, I started drowning in my thoughts. Thinking of the deal I just took on behalf of Ferrom. I know Azaire hates being looked out for, but why in the bloody world can't she get it through her thick skull we were about to lose our jobs? I mean, really!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

As Arabia and Hawthorne returned, I snapped out of my thoughts. Arabia stood next to me, on the left, for that was the side with the metal arm. She extended her arm back toward Violet, who gave her another surgical saw. "Quite subtle, aren't you?" I murmured. She looked at it, "I wanted a screw driver" She muttered, giving it to Hawthorne, who jumped joyously. Arabia put her arm back again, "Screw driver Violet, screw driver." Violet grinned sheepishly and gave Arabia the right tool.

She set to tightening and loosening, sometimes to a painful extent.

I lost my sense of time as I thought of what to say to explain to the group my choice.

"You're all set!" Arabia's voice snaked through my head like a vine tendril; grasping and choking me back to attention. "You sure you don't want a brain transplant?" She asked, looking consumed with happiness at the prospect.

"I'm very, very, very, very sure. Bye" I jumped out off the chair and dashed out the room, not giving the one eyed trio any chance to remove my brain or any other vital organ from my person.

I ran all the way till I found Azaire, Katty, and Jake. ""Oh. My. God. You will not believe what I just saw." I panted, out of breath. Azaire looked like she was about to snap at me when something made Jake squeal in terror. And something absolutely horrible happened. You could hear it turning the corner and thumping toward us.

.


	3. Chapter 3

As Katty and I were trailing behind a fuming Azaire, my mind began to wander to what I saw in that necklace. I don't exactly know what I saw, but it was terrifying. Suddenly, I was thrown into a flashback. It's a very nasty side effect of having a photographic memory.

We were just about to leave the corpse-ridden forest when I noticed something glimmering a few yards to my left. "Sparkly!" I shouted as I skipped merrily over to the body, lifting off the ground. As I reached it, Katty let out a disgusted gasp, but I was too busy searching for my treasure to notice whatever else she said.

I searched the hands of the cadaver, looking for a ring. Finding nothing note-worthy, I glanced at its ears. No earrings. My eyes found themselves at the neck of the body. I saw a chain; smiling to myself I happily yanked the tarnished silver cord from where it lay around the dead creature's neck. Letting the husk of what used to be drop to the ground as I claimed my slightly slimy prize.

That's when I glanced down at the pendant. It was a large dark and somehow shadowy colored gem, maybe a sapphire, As I grasped it between my small fingers, something not just strange, but almost scary.

I take that back. Terrifying.

I looked at, no; I looked _into_ the jewel and saw only horror.

_People screamed, ran for their lives, trying to out-run an all-to-ballerina-like wave of darkness. Bodies lay mangled in the streets. Vampires – thousands of them, tearing humans and sorcerers alike limb by limb, shred by shred. _

I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. My hands dropped the necklace as the horrible vision subsided and I breathed shakily, letting my head droop and my shoulders sag.

I raised my head in time to see Azaire bending over down to pick the forsaken (but still pretty) piece of accursed jewelry.

Azaire was blind, and I had always, personally, found it freaky how she could sense things with her mind. Anyway, she picked up this thing of evil and sparkles by its thin, dirty chain, and held it to the light for a moment, analyzing it. When she smiled and held it out to me, I jumped backwards, onto a body, not wanting to be anywhere near the dark, pretty object. "Um, you can have it." I said quickly, skipping toward Jaimes and Katty where standing, trying to calm my racing heart, and spastic nerves. I looked back to see Azaire shrug and lift the necklace over her head, coming to rest between where her ribs would've ended. It caught a feral ray of sun and glinted at me, I turned and shivered, there had been a person in that glint. _No,_ I told myself, _it didn't have a face._

As the memory faded to the farthest reaches of my mind, I was brought hurtling back to reality. We were in the middle of a stark white, hosptalish corridor. Jaimes ran up to us, gasping for oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and the other chemicals that make up air. Wow, he's out of shape. "You-will-not-believe-what-I-just-saw!" He said in one short breath, scrunching the words together, and then continuing to pant. Azaire opened her mouth, like she was going to snap back at him. Jaimes also opened his mouth, ready to clarify and elaborate his reason for running into us. That's when the thing that will haunt me forever happened.

One of the many doors in the hall opened up, spilling more light into the already well lit passage. In walked this monster, this thing of skin and bones, which was talking on a cell phone. "Yes, I'm doing it. Are you happy? No, no one's caught me yet, In fact, I-"his voice trailed off as he stared at this group of gaping child-like adults.

Perhaps I should take this chance to explain this horrifying encounter of the strange kind.

Kurt Cae, Grand Mage of the Irish Sanctuary, the most powerful Sanctuary in the world, was standing in front of us, in a Speedo. "Crap." He continued to stare at us, wide-eyed, and dropped the phone.

The sound must've jolted Katty out of shock, so she leapt from her position and snatched the phone from the floor, and held it out to him. "Grand Mage," Katty said, pointedly looking to the side, "You dropped your phone."

Snapping out of his awkward trance, he took the cell phone from her, "Thank you." He walked past us, reaching the door at the opposite end of the hallway. He stopped and turned around, just before opening the door he said, "By the way, don't you dudes go around telling anyone about this. I'm planning on a Teleporter friend of mine taking me to California for a day. And hitting the beach for a few hours." He disappeared, out the door, leaving Azaire and Jaimes still as stones.

Probably traumatized.

Katty was staring at her shoes very intently, like they were suddenly very interesting. I was, well, I was trying my absolute hardest not to laugh at my friend's reactions.

Finally Jaimes and Azaire recovered, and as we were walking down the white hallway, a thought came to mind.

I would never forget about this.

Ever.

The picture of the most respected man in the Irish Sanctuary, therefore, the most respected man of all the Sanctuaries in the world, wearing a Speedo would forever be burned into my brain. My dreams would be haunted by this vision.

These pessimistic thoughts wiped the grin straight off my face, but, this went unnoticed by my partners-in-crime, and we continued on our traumatic way.

"Jaimes, wasn't there something you needed to tell us?" Katty inquired after a few minutes of awkward silence. Jaimes paused for a moment, and then laughed, "After that evil experience, I honestly can't remember."

We left the Sanctuary, our manhunt for Justin, (Lewis Brady Awesome) forgotten.

Dinosaurs, bunnies, rainbows, and back to the necklace.

Want to the most unsettling thing about my little vision?  
I'm not a Sensitive.


	4. Chapter 4

**Katty Meza POV**

That was horrible.

That was horrible.

That was all I could think of, riding home in the hunk of junk that was Jaimes' car.

I felt bad for Jake, never being able to forget this unholy incident.

The car stopped. It was only 1800 hours, but even so, I had to sleep this off. I leapt out of the Jeep and bounded into the flat; Azaire and I on one side, and the boys on the other.

Light green walls did nothing to comfort me as I sprawled on my daybed, trying my level best for sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I opened them again; the gruesome image was seared into the insides of my eyelids.

I stayed like that for what seemed like forever, until I finally fell into a fitful and nightmare ridden slumber.

A sharp banging awoke me; pots and pans clattering to the ground. Image so far forgotten, I clambered out of bed and padded out to the shared kitchen.

I love breakfast, lots of screaming and violence.

"Are we going to the Sanctuary today?" I asked. Jake and Jaimes looked up from their childish argument about something unbeknownst to me.

"I guess." Azaire growled, not really liking the idea.

I think we were all thinking the same thing; what if the Grand Mage's trigger happy acquaintance was here already?

We ate in silence; it hurt my ears, before slinking off to our respective rooms. I searched through my closet for my Resolute jacket (made of Resolute thread); before I remembered I was wearing it.

"Katty," Jaimes knocked on my closed door. "We got to go."

I dusted off my jeans and opened the door, giving Jaimes a younger sisterly look; glaring.

"Alright," I grumbled, pushing past him. We were taking Azaire's car today. I, of course, could run faster, and took the shotgun seat. Jaimes snarled quietly, getting into the back seat with Jake. Azaire smirked at him.

The short drive to the Sanctuary was quiet and uneventful, even though everyone but Jake had forgotten the demonic image of the Grand Mage.

The Sanctuary was quiet; no one was really here yet, but us, the Grand Mage, and probably some random people.

Our "office" was a largish room a bit beyond the Medical Bay, inside were boringly colored walls and carpet, with a computer in one corner, and scattered desks and chairs. Organized chaos; just how we like it.

I check the email for any new assignments; there was one from Cae,

_Hey, Dudes! My good friend Cassy (don't tell her I called her that) and her partner in crime's gonna be here today! I also got you guys a great mission, right up your guys's alley! I got a loony sorcerer on the loose, you guys got to capture him and take him to Arabia, remind her not to dissect him._

_Peace out!_

I shivered; old people should not try to speak like teenagers.

"Jaimes," I called sweetly, mocking him, "Come here." I fake smiled. My brother reluctantly walked over to me.

"What is it, Katty?" he sighed irritably, I showed him the email.

"You're telling Azaire and Jake." I stated.

"What?! No!"

"Yes." I snapped my fingers, sparking like flint, and a ball of fire started coiling into the palm of my hand.

"Alright," Jaimes stalked off.

Katty: 1,000,001-Jaimes: 0

I watched as Jaimes told Jake and Azaire about our new mission, pausing before telling them our unwanted babysitter(s) would be coming today. Azaire, remembering he had accepted the offer, slapped him full across the face and walked out, probably to go get some kind of net… or weapon. Jaimes stared after her not that unlike a love struck puppy.

The mission was simple enough; the rogue's name was Taciturn Skinwalker, an Adept of a couple different orders. He was insane from some mission or another, either it traumatized him or his attacker just smushed his brain.

Mr. Skinwalker put up a fight; Jaimes broke one his legs, Jake an arm, and Azaire and I knocked him out. He didn't speak at all.

Turns out Azaire _had_ brought a net and we wrapped him up before dragging him into the boot of the car.

The assignment had taken us about 10 miles from the Sanctuary, making the drive back quick, not that we wouldn't have minded a 100 mile drive.

That Tuesday morning had gotten off moderately well, but that is never true about Tuesday; why does the Grand Mage always make us deliver something to Arabia on Tuesday? It's boring.

Azaire and I dragged out our captive from the trunk and pulled him through the Sanctuary building. We got past the first set of frosted glass door before Violet showed up.

"Here, Violet," Jaimes shoved the top of our captive's net/bag at the medic.

"What am I supposed to do with an unconscious person?" She sighed at Jaimes, annoyed with him.

"Give him to Arabia and tell her not to dissect him, something's wrong with him in the head." Jake told her. Violet rolled her eyes and hauled Taciturn through the second set of doors.

My friends and I tried to walk back to the office without any incidents. Of course, we can't even do that; on our way back we passed Kurt Cae and the two people with him.

"Oh, hey, Ferrom!" the Grand Mage called as Jaimes tried to pass him.

"Come here, you dudes got to meet some peoples." Cae continued. I sighed and came to stand in front of the trio.

One girl had her hands in her the pockets of silvery jacket, which was hanging off one shoulder and the other elbow. Her brown eyes kept flickering around the hallway.

The other had one hand in the large pouch of her sweatshirt, and the other sweeping her spiked-down hair out of her eyes.

"These are you're new guardians," Cae smiled, "Casper Kreed," he gestured to the one with the spiky hair, "and Zena Epoch." The other girl.

Zena focused on us and waved a whole lot like Hawthorne. Casper barely acknowledged us, watching us stoically.

"Well, this'll be fun," Azaire muttered sarcastically.

No argument there.


	5. Chapter 5

Up popped the email at the sharp click of the mouse.

_Dude!_

_I need you to babysit some operatives! Now!_

The Irish are strange. But what I can't figure out is why a 200, 300 something year old man would choose to speak like a teenager. It's scary.

_Whatever, Cae, but I'm bringing Zena with me._

I typed the reply with my left hand, the right always resting on the magical squirt gun in my sweatshirt pocket. Not working for the Sanctuary has its perks, like not having to talk up to Grand Mages.

"Zena, I know you're here," I called over my shoulder. I still jolted when she laid here hand on my head.

"What Casper?" She looked at me with optimistic brown eyes. I pulled up the email from the Irish Sanctuary and gestured for her to look at it.

"Babysit?" Zena raised one eyebrow, "Are they little kids or something?" She joked. I wasn't so sure, because sorcerers try not to bring kids and teenagers into this business.

"Well, get us some transport!" Zena flipped my spiky hair.

"Do you know any teleporters?" I turned in my chair and looked at her. She shrugged.

"You know I hate planes," This raised a silent battle between us.

She glared at me.

I glared at her.

She glared at me harder.

I glared at her harder.

She glared at me again.

"Urg!" I gave up, "I'll get plane tickets, but we're leaving today," I grumbled. Zena smirked at me, she was older and smirked at my impatience and general 'youngness' easier.

"Make sure it's direct, I don't feel like hailing a taxi," Zena called as she walked out the door of the office.

I turned back to the laptop on the desk to arrange for some direct flight tickets to Ireland. There were none.

When I finally got a pair of passes that left in three hours, stopped in two places, and then got to Ireland, I grabbed a shoulder bag and ran off to find Zena.

She was sitting on a lounge chair near the front door of the apartment in her purple tank top and silver jacket.

"Zena, plane leaves in three hours," she regarded me boredly.

"Alright, the sidewalk awaits," Zena knew I would've only gotten tickets for Sardy Field. (That's in Colorado, by the way.) We lived a couple of blocks away from an airport. Which was nice when you had somewhere to be, but really evil when you had a headache.

We locked the door and started the walk.

It took 10 minutes to walk in the front doors, 30 to check in, and 70 to get through security, and now there were only an hour and 10 minutes before takeoff. So, probably about only 30 minutes before boarding.

"Now boarding for flight…" That was our flight.

We sat down in the middle of the plane, me at the window because if the plane crashes, I can push out the window and not die.

Zena watched me, "Why don't you like planes, Casper?"

"Because they're evil," I glared back at her.

"That's not a reason," she retorted.

"To me it is."  
"That's _not_ a reason, and you know it."

"It's a reason."  
"No, Casper, it's not."

"It most definitely is."

"Alright then, believe whatever ridiculousness you want to; I have given up caring."

I watched out the window for hours, staring at clouds, until we landed. Which was a long time. Even then I looked out the giant windows of the Chicago terminal while we waited for the next flight to come in.

More staring at clouds, arguing with Zena, and hoping with all of paranoid sub-consciousness that the plane wouldn't crash.

Then the waiting for the plane at Frankfurt…

On the aircraft there was more watching the clouds for meteors and rogue sorcerers that might decide to shoot us down. Although, Zena fell asleep 10 minutes into the air.

And… finally… touchdown.

All of this took 24 hours-ish, for Zena, 24 hours of just about nothing. For _me_ it was 24 of gripping the seat arm rests and thinking about how weird accents are.

So, we left at about, 1:00 in the afternoon, and it was 12:00 noon(ish) when we landed in Dublin.

"Hotel me, Casper," Zena looked at me expectantly.

"Yeah!" I smiled sarcastically, "do it yourself."

Zena sighed and rolled her eyes, but none-the–less, pulled her laptop out of her carry-on and turned it on.

I took out my ancient phone and checked my emails. There was one from Cae.

_By the way, you don't have to be here 'till next week, even though I said now._

_Bye!_

I hated him.

_We're already here, Cae._

It was short, bitter, and to the point.

"Hey, Zena…" she looked up from her laptop, "turns out we didn't have to be here until next week." She was sitting on the floor next to her bags.

"Did you know this?" her brown eyes were narrowed angrily at me.

"I just got the email."

"I am really not liking _this_ Grand Mage," she turned back to the computer screen. "Hotel check in is at 3:00, so we should go yell at this guy."

"Couldn't agree more, my friend" I said as I laid my hand on her shoulder. Zena snorted and closed the laptop cover, putting it in her carry-on.

She picked up her luggage and had me wait for her to get in front of me before letting me follow her out of the automatic doors.

"You're getting the taxi," Zena told me when I joined her on the outside sidewalk, "I got hotel, you get transport." Her words were oddly clipped and the sentence strangely missing pieces.

I didn't think much of it.

I waved her off and sat on the bench/rim encircling a metal tree. I looked down at the still ancient phone, which I was still holding, and searched the internet for how far away Roarhaven was from Dublin. Because if it was within walking distance I wouldn't have to find a taxi. I had problems with most types of transportation.

I couldn't find it on Google, _this must be a very well hidden town,_ I thought.

_Cae, where the heck is Roarhaven?_

I emailed, thinking he would answer pretty quick. Zena was looking at me, she was probably waiting for me to give up and use her way.

_It's well hidden, right!? Its 3 miles from Dublin._

I almost told him how much I hated him at that moment.

"Come on, Zena, it's in walking distance," I told her, three miles wasn't too bad.

Zena shrugged and led the way out of the covered area just outside of the airport.

And at just that moment, it started raining. Not just drizzling, pouring down rain.

Yay.


	6. Chapter 6

Casper and I were wet.

Not just wet, but _wet._ Like, soaked.

We were two-and-a-half miles into our three mile walk, in the rain, to Roarhaven when something occurred to me.

"Caaaaaaaassssssspppppeeeeerr rrr, can't you just divert the rain?" I asked (Casper always said that I "whined" this)

She gave me an inpatient look and rolled her eyes, "No, I can't, Zena."

"Why?" I admit this _was _a little whiny.

"Because you can't part the clouds, they're too high." Casper had her hood pulled up, though it wasn't helping much. She glanced up into the downpour, sighed and resumed staring at the spots she was about to step on. "And I'm not that good an Elemental." She muttered.

I looked at her through my dark, dripping hair, "Well, you're good with your gun, some might even say a little psychopathic." I said optimistically. Casper snorted and grumbled something like, "That's my job."

I growled and walked a little faster so Casper would have to jog to catch up to me.

"Zena, we only got about a fourth of a mile until sorcerers start popping up." Casper told me as the rain got colder and poured down harder.

"I hate rain, I hate walking, I hate the cold, and I hate my hair." I snarled at the sky, then quickly putting my head down and rubbing my eyes. I wanted to say that I hated Ireland, but considering this was my first view of it, I didn't say that.

"Right, well we're here." I didn't realize that we had walked so far so fast, and now you could see an average looking man under a bright yellow umbrella. Or he would've looked average if not for the ridiculous, loose robes over his casual jeans and t-shirt.

"Hmm… weird robes, dresses like a teenager, hair that belongs in the trash, I'd say that's our guy," Casper murmured to me. "You're talking like you're identifying our 'assignments,'" Giving Casper an accusing glare.

We walked up to the person, who was likely Kurt Cae, the Irish Grand Mage, like we would our normal clientele. And our normal clients don't want us to be associated with them.

"Hi!" the man chirped cheerfully.

"Are you…?" I began, a little shocked.

"Kurt Cae? Yes." He smiled at then frowned at how soaked we were, "You are not entering my Sanctuary dripping wet, it is simply not done." He had the accent of the Irish, which, yes, we Americans do find viciously funny.

"Casper's Elemental," I explained as Cae started walking down the street I assumed he came. He made a satisfied sound and beckoned for us to follow him. Casper stared for a moment before stepping promptly into a very deep, muddy puddle.

"Ewwwww… now I _really_ hate this guy. Why don't we catch up to him and then beat him to the ground?" Casper asked quietly, and if I wasn't mistaken, and with enthusiasm. Now, Casper wasn't sadistic, (some will argue) or pessimistic, (some will argue that, too) but if someone's on her nerves, she'll hurt them, and I'll help.

We finally got to the Sanctuary, and Casper dried us off as soon as we entered the dull gray, low, ugly building. Then Cae started leading us through the labyrinth of hallways while Casper and I quietly discussed how we were going to gang up on him.

"Cae, we've got a bone to pick with you," I started off the rant.

Cae made a strange sound to cut me off. "Yes, I know, you all hate me, and you think I'm possibly brain dead, but I do have an explanation." He turned around and stopped us from walking ahead. "I knew Cassy," Casper glared at him, "when she used to work for the Sanctuary, and I knew you two were a team, but what I didn't know was that you routinely working brief jobs for them," he said. "And that those jobs were assassinations," he almost seemed angry at us, and he momentarily lost his teenish lingo. Cae sighed, "Well, now that that's over, let's focus on finding my top dogs in this pound." And the annoying Cae is back.

Casper continued glaring at him as he turned around and began walking again. One shoulder of my silvery jacket fell off my shoulder and stopped sliding down my arm down by my elbow. I didn't bother to pick it back up, I kind of liked it.

Cae led us around a corner and at the end of that corridor was a group of four people.

One girl had a long braid, each segment dyed a different color and her bangs cut to stay in her face and obscure her eyes. Everywhere from her shoulder to her hips, though not her arms, was a coppery-gold metal with clear chips glimmering randomly throughout. A blue energy ball shone over where her heart should've been.

Another one of the group, a sorcerer who looked like he was in his late teens, also had his hair cut into his eyes, his hair being more ginger than the walking bag of Skittles. He also had metal attached to him, the same coppery-gold with clear flecks sprinkled like birdseed. Although his implants were stuck to him differently; a sheet that spread from the left side of his nose to ear to his jaw line, a patch on the right side of his of his neck, and his entire arm.

A shorter, younger girl with long blonde hair walked next to Skittles. The right side of her face and neck were the diamond chipped metal plates, the eye was covered by her hair. And the shortest of the group was a boy that looked about nine years old, who didn't appear to have any metal on him. Or maybe I couldn't tell; he had an oversized sweat shirt that fell to his knees.

Hey didn't know who we were, you could tell; the metal faced, teenaged looking guy tried to pass by Cae. "Oh, hey, Ferrom!" Cae called as the sorcerer got close, stopping him.

"Come here, you dudes got to meet so peoples." Cae gestured for them to come over to where we were. The two girls and the really young looking one came to stand in front of us.

"These are your new guardians," Cae gestured to Casper, "Casper Kreed," he gestured to me, "and Zena Epoch" I smiled and waved, it was always my job to be friendly to the victims. Casper just watched them, it wasn't her job to be nice to people.

Skittles muttered something unintelligible.

"This is Ferrom, my second best team," Cae said, making the sorcerers in front of us bristle. "So, Jaimes Meza and his sister Katty," the metal faced man looked at the blonde girl. Not over protectively, but almost asking if they'd done something wrong. "Azaire Welding," that was Skittles. "And Jake Rabbit," Jake shook his light brown hair and looked at us like new toys. It was unsettling.

"Take them to your lair, dudes," Cae shoved us forward so I bumped into Jaimes, not fun, by the way.

"Okay!" Jake seemed to act like a little kid and started to skip away. The rest of his team followed him less enthusiastically, leaving Casper and I staring after him.

Casper and I looked at each other and followed.


End file.
